SIEGWART GERMAN AMERICAN LAW helps individuals and families with German ancestry to claim their German citizenship every day. Holger Siegwart, Esq. is a native of Germany. He is not only licensed to practice law in Germany and the United States, he has actually practiced in both countries for many years. If you think you may be a German citizen already, or you may be eligible to become a German citizen, please email us with the details of your German family background. We will evaluate your case for you free of charge.

• German citizenship by descent: If you have German ancestry chances are that you are a German citizen without knowing it. Under the German Nationality Act German citizenship is acquired through birth to a German father or a German mother, regardless of where the child is born, as long a one parent is still a German citizen at the time of birth. Therefore, a child born to a German parent in the United States or elsewhere is a German citizen, and his or her children born in the United States or elsewhere can be German citizens as well. This is true even if they never had a German passport and never knew they were German citizens.
  
  
• German citizenship by declaration: Older versions of the law granted German citizenship only to children of married German fathers and unmarried German mothers. Children born to married German mothers or unmarried German fathers did not become German citizens if their other parent was not a German citizen, depending on when they were born. The new German citizenship law addresses this injustice and created a path to naturalization in Germany for individuals who did not become German citizens only because their German father was unmarried or their German mother was married to a foreigner when they were born. Their children, grandchildren etc. are now eligible for German citizenship as well.
  
  
• German citizenship for Jewish victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants: Between 1933 and 1945 Germans of Jewish faith were persecuted and forced to leave Germany. Their German citizenship was revoked by discriminatory laws of the Nazi regime, which caused the German citizenship of Jewish Germans abroad to expire Jewish victims of persecution in Germany, who escaped Germany, and their descendants are eligible for German citizenship. Descendants of victims can apply for naturalization in Germany even if their Jewish ancestor who had to leave the country is no longer alive.
  
  
• German citizenship for former Germans – Renaturalization in Germany: Under all prior versions of the German Nationality Act German citizenship expired automatically when a German applied for and received the citizenship of another country. As a result, Germans who became naturalized U.S. citizens lost their German citizenship in the past unless they obtained a special permit from the German government prior to becoming U.S. citizens. Germans who lost their German citizenship by becoming U.S. citizens after year 1999 may be eligible for renaturalization in Germany. They can become German citizens again if they can prove that they were entitled to a special permit to retain German citizenship if they had timely applied for one.
  
  
• German citizenship through adoption: A minor child can acquire German citizenship through adoption under the current version of the German Nationality Act. The adoption must be valid under German law and one of the adoptive parents must be a German citizen at the time of the adoption. The adoption must be legally completed before the eighteenth birthday of the adopted child in order for the child to become a German citizen under this rule.
  
  
• Dual citizenship – special permit to retain German citizenship: Historically, German law did not favor dual citizenship. A German citizen who applied for and accepted the citizenship of another country automatically lost German citizenship. Since the year 2000 Germans could apply for a special permit to retain German citizenship based on their personal circumstances. Under the new German Nationality Act the permit is no longer required and acceptance of another citizenship no longer causes German citizenship to expire. A German citizen who becomes a citizen of another country can now be a dual citizen, and a German citizen can even hold more than two citizenships.